Rodrigo's Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Tustin

Rodrigo’s (formerly Don José) in Tustin is great. If you grew up in the suburbs of SoCal, THIS is the Mexican food you had as a kid with your family. You probably celebrated your auntie’s and uncle’s birthdays at a place like this. There are always chips and salsa immediately when you sit down, which you should of course enjoy with a (diet) soda. Your mom used to scold you for pouring salt all over those chips, which you shouldn’t have done, but everyone’s secretly appreciated it. If you were like me, our school (St Jeanne’s) had a family field trip here to practice ordering in Español. You probably had cheese enchiladas with rice and beans back in the day, and they are just as delicious as they always were. Once you got a little older, you had their fajitas which always came out on a sizzling platter, and made the whole family (the whole restaurant?) smell like fajitas the rest of the night. Everything is delicious here, but you should order a salad first because your fat and carb content is gonna be high. After dinner, you’ll be too full to order the flan or fried ice cream or churros, but you’ll order them anyway to get your MONTHly recommended dose of sugar - happiness and health are hard to balance. Enjoy, but go to the...

Went to this location a LOT in the 90s and 2000s, but stopped going just before Covid (and about the time they rebranded themselves from Don Jose). I've been there twice in the past year, with the second visit worse than the first. This last time, we entered shortly after they opened. We were seated immediately and we were the only guests at that time. But it took (literally) five minutes for a busboy to deliver chips and salsa, five more minutes to get our drinks and then 10 more minutes for our waiter to appear! (20 minutes!) Our meals came out at a reasonable time, but the flavors (meats, sauces, spices) had gone downhill quite a bit from our previous visit of just three months ago, and even more so from three years ago! Then we had to wait quite a while to receive our check. When we went to pay, the cashier was frazzled trying to ring up various to-go orders while listening to other workers explain the bags of food by the register for delivery services. Then there was about four customers wanting to pay their checks and about eight other people waiting to be seated. Bad service, bad food, bad organizational skills... Our last time here was definitely our...

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I've been coming here long before it was Rodrigos. Don José was the original name, and it was a Tustin staple for my entire life, I'm 42 now...

Even though the name has changed, the food has remained the same, tasty and filling!

Rodrigos is a good Mexican restaurant.

The service was impeccable as usual, friendly and fast. The chips and salsa flowed like milk and honey, and the water drink refills were consistently proactive.

I had the Carne Asada burrito minus rice add guacamole, and I added it wet (verde sauce). And sour cream on the side. It was really big, filling, and really delicious!

Rodrigos isn't going to win any Michelen stars, but it will win you over with its fast service, good food, free flowing chips and salsa.

My mom ordered the shrimp Chalupa Salad, which was also very tasty.

I would come back again, and I would recommend Rodrigos to others. Just expect a senior citizen restaurant hangout (like the olive garden of Mexican restaurants). The atmosphere is lowly and a bit drab...

If you're craving Mexican food and don't know where to go. Come...